He lay there panting for several seconds before he struggled to stand on his ravaged leg. Through the grate I saw the werewolf recover and jump at the ladder again. Elli saw it too and pulled me toward the stairs. I looked at the distance between us and the wolf and my heart plummeted because I knew it would never reach us in time. Werewolves are powerful creatures but their bodies are not designed well for climbing. And once we got to the roof, Eli would have healed enough from his leg wound to carry us both away from here.

Eli sped up the stairs and I grabbed for the rail to slow our ascent but he was too strong. At the last landing he paused to adjust his grip on me. “Now it is just you and me,” he said with a triumphant leer as he started up the narrow ladder to the roof.

We were almost to the top when Eli let out a pained screech and stopped climbing. I looked down, hoping to see the werewolf latched onto Eli’s leg again but the creature was two landings below us. Eli gasped and struggled to hold onto me and the ladder with one hand while his other hand tried to reach something behind him. My eyes followed his movements until I saw the silver hilt protruding from a smoking hole in his side. I watched him grasp the handle of the knife, then yank his hand away, screaming as the pure silver scorched his skin.

The fire escape shook below us as the werewolf drew closer. Please hurry, I begged him silently and I could have sworn he looked right into my eyes and sped up.

Eli saw him coming and abandoned his attempts to remove the knife. He reached for the roof two feet away. I did the only thing I could think of to stop him. I stretched out my hand and grasped the hilt of the knife. Pulling it free, I twisted and swung at the vampire. I didn’t aim, I just tried to make contact, anything to slow him down, and I felt a bolt of satisfaction when the knife sank into the soft flesh of his shoulder.

His scream of rage and pain was like a thousand nails on a chalkboard. He shook me violently and I dangled away from the fire escape, three stories above the ground. Far below, I saw Nikolas’s furious face as he reached for another knife. At his feet lay the decapitated body of the other vampire.

Nikolas drew back his hand to throw the knife but he stopped when he saw me hanging above the ground. He was afraid Eli would drop me if he wounded him again.

“Do it!” I screamed. I didn’t want to die. But I would rather fall to my death now than to let this monster carry me away to rape and torture. My voice turned pleading. “Nikolas… please.”

His arm moved so fast I barely realized the knife had left his hand before it whistled past me to embed itself in Eli’s other shoulder. The vampire moaned in pain and scrabbled to maintain his grip on the ladder. He looked up at the roof then stared fearfully down at the werewolf who was now at the bottom of the ladder directly below us. He was out of time.

The fury and hunger in his eyes when he glared at me sucked the air from my lungs. “I will have you,” he rasped right before he let me go.

Time seemed to stand still. In one suspended moment I was dimly aware of the werewolf’s roar, of shouts below me and the smoking dagger in my hand before time sped up again.

Chapter 5

“Sara! Sara, can you hear me?”

“Is she –?”

“She’s breathing.”

“Christ! Did you see what he did?”

“I-I couldn’t reach her, Pete.”

“Forget that now. Let’s get her out of here.”

Strong arms picked me up and cradled me against a warm chest. I opened my eyes to see a familiar face above me.

“Roland?”

“She’s awake,” Roland said hoarsely and I heard Peter whisper “Thank God.”

Roland sat me on a bench at the bus stop near the building and knelt in front of me. Peter sat next to me and I let myself lean against him. The world was coming back into focus and along with it, my memory. I pulled my knees up against my chest as my whole body shook and I began to sob uncontrollably. I hadn’t cried in front of another person in years but it now felt like a long-sealed dam had burst open.

Roland rose and sat on my other side. He put an arm around my shoulders, pulling me against his warmth. “You’re safe now.”

I let him comfort me for a minute before I pulled away from him. My dad used to hug me all the time but since his death I shied away from most physical contact. It provided comfort but it also gave you a false sense of security. I used to feel safe when my dad held me, like nothing could ever hurt either of us. Letting someone get that close to you only opens you up to more pain when they are gone.

“No one is safe,” I croaked between hiccups. I was such a fool. I knew what was out there, I knew there had been vampire sightings in Portland and still I came and nearly got all of us killed. I shuddered and buried my face in my hands, wondering if I’d never feel safe again.

“Shit, Sara, I’m so sorry,” Roland moaned. “If I had any idea something like that would happen, I never would have brought you here.”

“It’s my fault.” Peter’s voice was full of regret. “If I had stayed with her…”

Roland glared at Peter. “I was gone for five minutes. What the hell happened, dude?”

“It–it’s not his fault.” What could a teenage boy have done against a vampire? Then I remembered Nikolas fearlessly facing down two vampires, armed with nothing more than a sword and a bunch of knives.

“Where is Nikolas?” At Roland’s confused look I said, “In–in the alley. He saved my life.”